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Hero Lab import files (errors)

Discussion in 'Bug Reports & Installation Support' started by Wesley Gorby, Mar 26, 2018.

  1. Wesley Gorby

    Wesley Gorby Production/Community Manager
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    If you have HL import por files that have shown errors coming into D20PRO, please post them to the forums here for me.

    upload_2018-3-25_23-7-24.png
     
    kimco likes this.
  2. thraxxis

    thraxxis Member

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    Hail and well met,

    I found some spare time in a l00t box and will be spending it on the HLN (Hero Lab Native) importer. With the community's support, I expect it to be at 95%+ in a short while.

    Also, if you are sensitive to random people scoping your HL Ports (If my GM posted a .por containing upcoming NPCs, there is no way I'd look. No way!) then I'm sure it's OK to email or DM them as well.
     
  3. firebringer

    firebringer Member

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    @ Krilion & Thraxxis: WOOOOT so glad to see the native importer getting some love!

    2 .por files attached. If you can get everything in this one to match what the numbers show in HL, you've got my vote!

    These two have examples of small, medium, large, and huge creatures. Size modifiers to attacks being doubled was one of the problems with the native importer.

    Importing the wrong image for the creature, or no image at all, was another problem.

    Saving throws have been off significantly for basically every creature imported.

    Attacks modifiers were basically doubled from HL said they should be.

    Non-standard attributes weren't correctly being applied to attacks. For example, with the Weapon Finesse feat, attacks are still importing as using STR for attacks, instead of DEX, which it should be using.

    Also threat ranges for weapons were off, usually for weapons that have 18-20 threat ranges, or other non standard ranges, like scimitars and kukris.

    Also, and this one is weird, when a magic weapon is imported, with 'magic' as the first type in its damage type list, then critical hits with the weapon don't actually do the correct multiples of damage. But, if you manually remove 'magic' from the damage type list and then add it after 'piercing'/'slashing'/'bludgeoning' it works. Strange stuff......

    Hope this helps and thanks SO MUCH for giving the HL .por importer some attention!!!
     

    Attached Files:

    ncassella likes this.
  4. ncassella

    ncassella Member

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    Thanks for looking into this one guys it's a huge functionality that I really like to use.
    Just as above the Images, attacks saves and mods in many if not all of the cases are messed up.

    Take the Weedwhip and the Arboreal Grappler as an example of where the images got swapped with something else entirely
    upload_2018-3-28_10-21-59.png upload_2018-3-28_10-23-33.png

    upload_2018-3-28_10-23-1.png
    upload_2018-3-28_10-24-19.png
     

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  5. thraxxis

    thraxxis Member

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    Hail and well met,

    Good news in that the fix for the image issue is pushed.

    And I'll continue to poach as many of the additional defects addressed as possible before 3.7.3 ships.

    P.S. I've been gently lobbying Owlbear to let me post the HLN importer code as a standalone Git repo. I think an open-source approach will yield the best result, especially over the long term.
     
    #5 thraxxis, Apr 4, 2018
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 5, 2018
  6. thraxxis

    thraxxis Member

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    Greetings,

    I'm learning more about the new rules features that were adding during my sojourn. This will allow me to craft the importer appropriately to handle cases where the creature has an equipped item that boosts stats, thus impacting the Saving throw.

    upload_2018-4-6_14-57-53.png
     
  7. firebringer

    firebringer Member

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    Thraxxis,

    Getting the images and saving throws squared away is definitely a move in the right direction!

    After that the attack modifiers and the weird magic damage type for weapons messing with crits, and the .por Importer will be looking WAY better!

    Your efforts a very much appreciated!
     
  8. ncassella

    ncassella Member

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    Thanks for the hard work Thraxxis.
     
  9. thraxxis

    thraxxis Member

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    Thanks firebringer, I think I have the HLN side for Saves working now for the stat boost situation. Though I'm seeing Ref saves off by +2 for some reason across the board. I pinged Owlbear about this and will discuss.

    I'll move on to the attack mods and magic damage next.
     
  10. firebringer

    firebringer Member

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    Thraxxis,

    Sounds like you’re making great progress! Interesting (and weird) about the +2 to reflex saves....

    On a related note, have all the changes been limited to the .jar that contains the HLN code, or did you have to update other modules also?

    I only ask because, in the past, the HLN jar could be released separately from the full build, which could be useful to get users beta testing it.
     
  11. firebringer

    firebringer Member

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    Thraxxis,

    With the 3.7.2.13 beta, the only change I noticed with the HLN Importer was the fix for the incorrect or missing images.

    The saving throws, attack mods and damage mods are still incorrect.

    I’m going to put on my designer hat for a moment so tell me where I’m way off here:

    One solution might be to mark a creature in the library with an ‘imported from xxx’ flag. When d20Pro sees this s flag on a creature, it “short circuits” the logic that calculates saves, attack mods, damage mods, skills, AC, etc.

    Whatever statistics d20Pro found for the creature on import, it just takes as gospel and assigns to the creature, no further calculations applied.

    This way, d20Pro isn’t re-calculating and re-adding the creature’s mods, which it appears to be doing now.

    The flag would need to continue to be tracked in the creature’s library record so that the problem doesn’t re-occur the next time the creature’s record is opened and saved in the library.

    Otherwise it seems like you’d just be chasing a million individual differences between what HL calculated for the creature, and what d20Pro calculated and then added on top of that.
     
  12. owlbear

    owlbear Administrator
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    FYI, thraxxis and I went thru and did a bunch of work on the HLN importer last week. However, I didn't get a commit from him to the project before we rolled 3.7.3 so expect an HLN importer update in the next little while.

    As too your flag idea @firebringer, we currently stuff that kind of info into the notes/gm notes areas of the token view.. This is also where you'll find any other data we couldn't import correctly and an attempt to explain why.
     
  13. firebringer

    firebringer Member

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    Owlbear,

    That's awesome news...very happy to see the HLN getting some attention!

    Any chance we could get some notes on what fixes you made?

    Is the HLN still set up as a separate .jar that we can drop into an existing install to see the fixes, or will it require a full version update?
     
  14. owlbear

    owlbear Administrator
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    Yeah, all of the importers and rule sets will remain separate jar files so they can be rolled out without having to roll a full D20PRO version.

    I don't want to put comments into Thraxxis's code but when last we spoke, he had fixed the item and feat stat/save/skill bonus values from the importer.

    Part of the problem here was misunderstanding how these numbers were being generated in the new world of D20PRO. We're actually doing some calculations now-a-days where as in the original code all of these elements were just text entries and could be overridden by the importer.

    As an example, a character with Great Fortitude gets a bonus to their fort save. In the old system we'd just import the flat final number for HL, paste a text entry to the feats page about having the feat and be done with it. With the new model, the player's stats, modifiers from active effects and more get processed to calculate the bonus.

    What the HLN was doing before the fix was importing the flat number as the bonus which was then being ADDED to the calculated totals -- effectively doubling them.

    The other issue we fixed/encountered is actually related to the classes file. What's cool about this issue is you can fix this one NOW.

    Basically, if a class file entry includes a GoodSaves=<something> or SavingThrows=<something> then saving throws for this class entry are going to be used to calculate saves.

    A common importer result is to have the class box on the creature read:

    <Class Name> @ some level w/ hitdice
    <Race Name> @ some level w/ hitdice
    <Sub-Type Name> @ some level w/ hitdice

    Lets assume we have a human cleric. They might end up with the following:

    Cleric 5 D8 (Class)
    Human 0 D8 (Race)
    Humanoid 0 D8 (Type)


    In the classes file saves are going to be calculated for Cleric level 5, Human and Humanoid (level 0). This results in a higher base if the Human and/or Humanoid class definition exists AND it has a save defined.

    To fix this just empty the save definitions for non-classes such that being a race doesn't result in saving throw calculations.

    The Human entry should read as follows:

    Code:
    ## RACE: HUMAN
    CreatureClass=Human
    Variants=
    VariantOfClass=
    AttackRate=.5
    HitDie=d6
    GoodSaves=
    Armor=
    Weapons=
    Tools=
    Skills=
    ##FEATURES BY LEVEL
    Features=Human
    Features0=Humans|Racial Ability Score Adjustments|Medium|Normal Speed|Bonus Feat|Skilled|Languages
    ### CASTER AND SPELLS
    SpellCaster=com.mindgene.d20.plugin.dnd.creature.SpellCasterTemplate_Prepared|INT
    ## END RACE: HUMAN
    This is pulled from 3.7.3's Pathfinder campaign template which can be found in your D20PRO directory under res\campaignTemplates\Pathfinder\res\ManuallySpecified. For Mac users, add a data directory before res.

    Hope that helps!!
     

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  15. thraxxis

    thraxxis Member

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    As @owlbear indicates, the HLN is still a work in progress. I expect to clean up the remaining issues in the next couple of weeks. The updated HLN.jar can be deployed in the field (even hot, while D20PRO is running).

    I'm dedicated to getting to at least that 80/20 magical threshold of error-free import. After that, I'd really like to see the HLN importer code be open sourced so coader-gamers can both help maintain and also fork it as a basis for writing other importers.
     
  16. ncassella

    ncassella Member

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    Thanks mucho guys. This importer is really a great tool and I'm so happy to see it getting love.
     
  17. firebringer

    firebringer Member

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    Thraxxis and Owlbear,

    It sounds like you have a handle on the weirdness with saving throws (fingers crossed), so hopefully you've had a chance to start looking at the 'Attack' tab.

    Below are some of the issues I see with attacks upon import with the HLN currently:

    1. Size modifiers for non-medium sized creatures are re-added after HL has already added them (effectively doubling the bonus/penalty to attack rolls for size).

    2. Attacks that don't use the 'normal' attribute for attack rolls don't seem to come across properly (i.e. weapon finesse using dex for melee attacks).

    3. Non-standard critical threat ranges (i.e. from improved critical feat) don't seem to import properly.

    4. 'Magic' damage type for enchanted weapons causes d20Pro to not actually use the critical multiplier on a successful critical hit. This one is strange, and may not even be tied to the HLN specifically. When an enchanted weapons (e.g. a +1 sword) is imported with the HLN, it shows 'magic' as the first damage type, before, for example, slashing. When this weapon crits, assuming its a x2 multiplier, d20Pro only rolls damage once. If the 'magic' damage type is removed and then re-added after the 'slashing' damage type, d20Pro rolls and calculates the additional damage correctly.

    There may be others, be these are the ones we see regularly.

    As always, thanks for your hard work on a really great product (d20Pro)!
     
  18. Golkiwu

    Golkiwu Member

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    Working on a tournament critter today, i found that imported creatures from Hero Lab (.por native) is not calculating the DEX bonus to AC. Creatures created inside D20PRO do, but not the HL .por import.

    Pathfinder ruleset D20PRO 3.7.3
     
    #18 Golkiwu, May 19, 2018
    Last edited: May 22, 2018
  19. thraxxis

    thraxxis Member

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    Hail and well met,

    Here's an updated version of the HLN importer. Just drop this .jar in judge\addon\creature and it will hot swap (no need to bounce D20PRO).

    There is a still a lot of work to do. Though I figured enough progress to send out an update.

    These improvements are in this buidl:
    - ability scores modified by magic
    - to hit should calculate correctly (damage and 1/2/off-hand still todo)
    - basic DR
     

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  20. Zipwhaa

    Zipwhaa New Member

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    Hi. I don't know if this has bee discussed by other people. Since I upgraded to 3.7.3 I'm noticing that the spell lists aren't being brought over for my players characters like they used to. I'm not sure if I'm just missing something or not.

    Also, I have been having trouble in bringing over spell lists for anyone that I've customized in Hero Lab. I've typically had to go in and add in the spells to my D20Pro characters as free form. One of my characters used a wish to be able to cast spells from a different class. I can easily modify them in Hero Lab to do that but those spells never have carried over. If someone has a trick to making those actually show up for me would be awesome sauce!
     

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